Sea Side Weyr

"Hmph.. a beach and a cliff.. yeah, a place full of hot sand and water you can't even drink is Paradise, all right."

The owner of the grumbling snorting, green-grey eyes narrowing in annoyance. She had been wandering this forest for too long, and she had barely anything to show for her search in the carrying sack. And this place was too hot. Her short blonde hair was starting to stick to her face from the humidity and sweat.

"Gotta find a.. stupid river.. there'll be something there.."

Jisell navigated carefully over a bush of swampgrass, scowling at the sharp, saw-edged blades of the plant. All that was in this miserable forest were useless shrubs and weeds. She'd hoped for something exotic so far south, something interesting, but all she got were a few scrapes from tree branches and swampgrass and dehydration. It didn't help that she was lost, either.

At least there are basics somewhere. Rivergrains and fellis trees and numbweed are supposed to grow down here; she'd find them eventually.. if she ever got out of this maze of trees.

"Ugh.. this is what I get for.. skipping lessons, I guess.."

Her form slumped even more, half-empty carrying sack hanging loosely at her side. But there was no hope for her to Impress anyways; why did they bother? She wasn't even interested in being a dragonrider. Plants half her side were much more manageable, thank you. She couldn't picture herself so far away from the ground, a speck in the sky..

Jisell sighed, stopping to rest against an unsympathetic tree.

Maybe someone'd come find her at some point. Before, you know, a wherry squawked her to death. Or something.

Well, it was his duty to look after every one of his students, wasn't it? Then again, it was pure luck that lead the Bluerider to the place Jisell had landed.

Here he'd been, minding his own business and relaxing after teaching the candidates the proper way to bag firestone, when S'kil happened to see a tired little girl that he recognized from the Weyr. And, if his memory served him correctly, she was one of his. Great.

Well, it wasn't like S'kil had a life outside of teaching or anything like that. So, as a natural born nurturer, he goes with his first instincts:

"Excuse me, are you lost?"

Well, she certainly looked lost. And really, he could always call Abeoth in a heartbeat. The blue was merely resting on the beach now anyway...

((Sorry for the short post, my muse left me in the middle of it!))

Numbweed would be so useful to find.. Next time she came out here, she'd need to ste- err, borrow a knife of some sort. That way she could go deeper into he brush, rather than sticking so close to the beach like she'd had to so far. Maybe that's why she couldn't find anything- the traitorous sand and salt water was encroaching upon fertile dirt and pure water, tainting it, depurifying it.. Jisell very strongly disliked the beach. There was no point to it! It nurtured nothing except for a few crabs and bugs.

The heat and humidity was getting to her head. Augh, why had she bothered even trying to do anything productive.. And now someone was bothering to interrupt her mental agonizing. The nerve! She should give whoever dared-

Dare... oh crap, was that the Candidate Master?

"Uhh.. uh.. uhm, lost? Who, me?"

She glanced around quickly, then jumped away from the tree and started fervently brushing the dirt and sweat off her clothes.

"Me, lost? Hahaaha, I don't know what you're talking about. Don't mind me, just looking for herbs, haha. Sorry for disturbing you, I'll just be on my way now. Bye!"

She waved and was already turning to hurry back into the forest, path or no path. If he remembered that she hadn't been in class today, who knew what would happen to her!

The moment she started to leave, S'kil couldn't help but chuckle lightly. "Mm... so we have a little liar in the Weyr? If you knew where you were going, you'd know you're heading towards a wherrie's nest."

Inwardly, S'kil was now grateful to N'rav for picking the bluerider to be in the initial group to scout out the area--it helped in situations such as these. Crossing his arms lightly, he frowned in a thoughtful way.

"And, if I'm not mistaken... don't I know you, ma'am?"

Found a student playing hooky? Abeoth yawned lazily, not too terribly interested. The mental image of the blue rolling onto his side in the sand to sun his wings appeared behind S'kil's eyes.

'Possibly,' S'kil said nonchalantly.

What are you going to do to her?

'Figure out what she was up to, I suppose.'

After his first low chuckle and lesson on direction, she froze. A wherry's nest? Wow.. how hadn't she wandered into it already? But where there was wherry, there must be fresh water for it to drink, and where there is fresh water, there is an abundance of herbs..

...shards. Why must her savior also (probably) be her captor?

Jisell turned slowly, green-grey eyes sharp and calculating as she tried to scan her ways of escape. Running would.. no, he had a dragon. That would be a bad idea. Trying to bluff her way out of it also seemed to have no chance, especially at his next question. She scowled, a rather ugly expression for such a young lady, and locked her eyes with his own blue ones. Her back straightened as she finally turned all the way around, but her attempt at seeming tall was futile. Jisell might be of a good height for her age and gender, but S'kil was of an even better height for his own niche.

Oh well. She'd been caught. Since running and bluffing was ought of the question, and she was too prideful to humble herself and admit any wrong, the scowl set rigid on her face. She stared into his striking eyes for a few breaths, and suddenly turned her head away, unable to keep the one-sided contest any longer.

"Well.. it depends. Are you an easy guy to fool?"

S'kil laughed gently, cocking his head slightly to get a better look at the young girl. She was young--either prepubescent or just barely into her teenage years by the look of her. She was decently tanned, and a blond. She seemed to be trying to make herself taller until he'd apparently won her little contest. Heh. Kids were so predictable... why they gave them to him so young was beyond S'kil's knowledge. Dragon-riding might smooth her out, if she Impressed.

"You're a candidate... Jisell, fourteen turns, right?" With such a limited number of candidates around, it was fairly simple for S'kil to pick out distinguishing features and memorize names and ages--it would become important to know them all if they Impressed. Bringing out the only blond out of the (so far) three girls was child's play. Now, all he needed was some little motion to betray her identity.

'Yup,' he muttered mentally to Abeoth. 'Definitely a candidate.'